Erased
by Inflagrante
Summary: AU. How very fitting really, that the girl who would come to return the legendary pin that had been missing for decades shared the very name of the village it belonged to.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and is not my intellectual property. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

**Author's note: Before you read I want to announce that this is AU, so keep that in mind if throughout the story my explanations of something don't match the one in the original storyline of the series. Though the characters will be going through some similar things, it won't be situation for situation at all - remember how the butterfly effect works an all that jazz. This is my first time writing fanfiction so I'm really excited to share it with you, and as I'm not a native english speaker I do apologize for any mistakes that might come up, though you're very welcome to point them out so I can change them. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think.**

* * *

There was a lot to be said for mysteries, the man thoughtfully pondered to himself. Most people tended to be negatively inclined towards them - fearing the unknown or what they couldn't understand. He really didn't blame them either; it was how humans were hard-wired after all, to instinctively avoid unassessed situations that could potentially serve as a threat to their lives and well-being. It was just basic evolution at work, to survive at all costs.

But then the man wasn't really most people. Not only older, but inherently wiser as well, he knew that sudden, seemingly unexplainable phenomenons rarely meant the beginning of something but rather acted as a consequence of an even bigger cause. It was a clue, the result of something - an aftermath. Nothing in this world happened without a reason, he was sure of that much at least, and things were ever rarely what they seemed to be on the surface. Perhaps it was because the man knew all of this that he was even more intrigued with this particular case. His eyes ran over the file laying infront of him, going over the details of the thin content once more as if he was searching for something he might have missed, or overlooked.

He found nothing.

The only clues raised far more questions than they answered, but despite of that the man found his gut telling him that this was nothing ordinary that he was dealing with, and though he possessed nothing solid to back him up on that fact, he remained convinced of his verdict. His musings were swiftly interrupted by a firm knock on the door.

The man sighed as he leaned back into his chair. "You may enter."

"Hokage-sama, you called for me?" said the voice of the male who entered. He wasn't terribly tall, though firmly built and was wearing a navy body together with a green vest. His skin was naturally tan however, and slashed horizontally across his nose was a hard-edged scar - the remnants of a wound that had undeniably been deep.

"Yes, Iruka. Sit down, please," the Hokage gestured politely at the chair facing him on the opposite side from where he sat at the desk. Iruka nodded curtly before complying, his trained pokerface not giving away any of the confusion he was currently feeling. He had been at home, preparing scrolls for the written part of the upcoming academy exit examinations when they had summoned him urgently to the Hokage Towers. Though that in itself wasn't anything groundbreaking it had still puzzled him, and even moreso when he entered the room and found that only he alone had been called.

"Can I ask what this is about?" Iruka said.

The Hokage merely stared at the other man, seemingly almost lost in thought for a few seconds before he handed him the file he was holding without a word. Iruka opened it, his eyes quickly scanning over the contents and the picture included.

"Who is this?" he asked, looking up at the Hokage quickly before resuming to read.

"I'm not too sure myself about that yet," he answered truthfully. He was leaning his elbows against the table, holding his hands firmly clasped infront of his mouth. "She showed up here a few days ago, claiming she came from The Land of The Lightening. Said she had been living in an orphanage up until a few months ago when she became of age, not in Kumogakure, but in the village of Rai."

Iruka furrowed his eyebrows. "Rai?" he repeated. "But she's not a civilian, is she?"

"No, she's not. She's proficient in ninjutsu and taijutsu," The Hokage answered slowly. "When I asked her how, she told me she had been training under a former ninja by the name of Sakamoto Kuno, for the past five years. The men I sent to do a background search on him showed me that she indeed was telling the truth, and that he had been a shinobi belonging to Kumogakure up until thirty years ago, when he decided to retire at the age of twenty-five and leave the village to marry a civilian from a noble clan of Rai." he lowered his arms down to meet the table but his hands remained together. "The girl...her parentage is unknown. The orphanage claimed to have had her brought in as a small child by a villager who had found her alone in the woods beaten and bruised, no sign of anything or anyone else present. She hadn't been able to tell them anything about herself or where she came from other than her name. They suspected traumatic amnesia."

Iruka processed the information he had just been given. An abandoned orphan raised in a civilian village who had been taught the ninja arts...that certainly was extremely odd. Usually, prospective shinobis and kunoichis were sent to the ninja academies in the hidden village of the belonging country, yet for some unfathomable reason, this girl hadn't. Although the story certainly peaked his interest, Iruka had yet to understand his role in it, since he neither recognized the girl, nor did he have any affiliations in The Land of the Lightening. Aside from that he was not eligible for missions since he was currently a teacher at the Academy.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, but with all due respect, I still don't understand what this has to do with me?"

"She says she wants to serve Konohagakure as a kunoichi, Iruka," The Hokage finally said.

"I don't understand." Irukas face was now visibly confused. "Why here? Why not in Kumogakure, in the land where she was raised?" It didn't sound right in the least, he thought. What could possibly motivate the girl to come here, to their village, lest she was secretly a spy for The Lightening Country?

"Because of this." The Hokage lifted his hand, displaying a shiny, silver pin between his thumb and index finger. Irukas eyes widened.

"It can't be...is that...?" he spluttered out, his eyes seemingly stuck on the object held up infront of him.

"Yes, Iruka." The Hokage flipped the pin flat on his open palm, extending it to the other man for a better look. "This is the Konoha Founding Father's pin of the Senju Clan. Only two of them were ever made, the other belonging to the Uchiha Clan. The girl says it has been in her possession for at least 10 years now, and the matron of the orphanage confirmed that she was found with it."

"How is it possible for her to have it, Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked incredulously.

Sarutobi let out a small sigh, closing his first around the pin and clenching it hard. "Truthfully, I don't know yet either," he admitted. "But the girl is convinced that this is proof that her family has ties to this village, which is why she had decided to serve us. She wants to find her parents, she says." He ran his tumb absentmindendly over the smooth metal of the pin that now held warm thanks to his hands. "Anyway, the reason I called you in, Iruka, was because she requests to be able to partake in the practical and written exam for this years graduating academy class, in order to become a genin."

Irukas face fell. "She what? That-that's not possible," the young teacher stuttered out, shaking his head. "The participants have all attended the academy since they were young, most as early as six years old. They have been properly trained in all three main jutsus and survival techniques, as well as been taught about the history of the village they are to serve." Iruka then frowned slightly. "There is no way she could be ready to take the exams in five days, Hokage-sama. Wouldn't it be wiser to put her in Asuka-san's class? That would give her at least a year to prepare for next years exit exams." He inhaled sharpy after finishing his speech, all the while his mind reeled. This was absurd, he thought, transferring in to a new country and potentially serving as its protector after only a week of residing there? Not to mention, as she wasn't a previous student of his, he had no idea of the extent of her capabilities as a kunoichi. He wouldn't risk the safety of his students like that, nor her own for that matter.

"You know, that's what I told her as well, but she was adamant on being given a chance to prove her skills." The Hokage chuckled softly. "She told me she had studied the history and culture of Konoha through books and trained every day for the past five years, until her trainer had deemed her fit enough. I found her to be very persuasive, I have to say."

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious. She-"

The Hokage cut him off, continuing, "I know that in normal cases this wouldn't be permitted, but this is hardly a normal case though, is it?" He looked expectantly at the shinobi infront of him. Iruka knew he was referring to the Founder's Pin. But before he had a chance to answer him, the leader of Konoha spoke up again. "Iruka. I hope you're well aware that I would not suggest this without grounds, it is not how I run this village. I have seen her ninjutsu abilities...she performed a C-rank jutsu nearly flawlessly. I think she deserves a chance."

"Do you really feel that special treatment is the right way to go, just because the girl had the lost Founder's Pin in her possession and is able to perform a higher level jutsu?" He knew that questioning the Hokage's judgement was disrespectful, but he couldn't help himself.

"Oh, make no mistake, Iruka." The Hokage smiled, eyes twinkling. "I'm not saying we should go easy on her. Apart from the exams, she will have to demonstrate a knowledge of survivalism as well as meet whatever requirements you deem necessary in order to prove herself capable, before giving her a chance to try out for the exams. If she does not meet your requirements within the next five days, she will proceed to transfer to Asuka's class instead." He stood up. "You will be well compensated for the extra time, I assure you. I'm leaving it to you, Iruka," he finished finally, holding out his free left hand to the stunned man in the chair.

"I...I understand. I will keep you updated on the progress of things," he said dejectedly as he stood up and shook the hand of the village leader. The final word lies with the Hokage after all, and he had no choice but to accept. After leaving the main office and closing the door behind him, Iruka let out a heavy sigh, now feeling completely emotionally drained. This was not what he had anticipated, coming here. He thought back at the girl from the picture, and how her face had looked young but her eyes had held an intimidating maturity well beyond her age. It didn't sit well with Iruka; he didn't care for mysteries in the slightest. Slowly he began making his way home, figuring he now had even more work to do.

Back in the office, the Hokage was leaning back in his chair, holding the pin up and observing it. There had been no mistake about it, it was definitely the real deal. The pin was round, made out of the most withstanding and wealthy silver known to man. On top of it, the Konoha symbol layed marked out of one of the rare, red coloured crystal gems that held the power to increase the wearers fire-jutsu abilities, reflecting its place of origin - The Fire Country. He thought back to just a few days ago when the girl had shown it to him, and he had been completely speechless, something he very rarely was. He hadn't been able to figure it out. Was she a descendant of the Senju-clan? A secret, unknown child created out of wedlock?

The Hokage sighed as he swiveled his chair around to look at the scenery outside the office window. How very fitting really, that the girl who would come to return a legendary pin that had been missing for decades shared the very name of the village it belonged to.

Konoha.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and is not my intellectual property. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

Although the early morning atmosphere in the village has been tranquil and relaxing on her walk towards the academy, it hadn't done much to calm the unsettling feeling in her stomach. She had woken up that day, her fourth altogether in the new village, and still been momentarily confused of her new surroundings. Konoha reckoned it wasn't really anything odd either, having spent most of her life in the orphanage previously, but the feeling of being out of place still persisted no matter what she tried telling herself. It seemed to her like she had been dreaming about this day for as long as she could remember, ever since she had first learned as a child that the pretty pin - which had up until then been her only clue to her identity - not only acted as a symbol for a village in a faraway country, but shared her name Konoha as well. Only seven years old, and still she had known it wasn't just a coincidence.

Yet here she stood, five years later, finally having arrived at the place she had dreamed about for so long and she mostly just felt like it had been largely anti-climactic. She firmly decided to push the feeling away and mentally scolded herself for thinking that way. _What did you expect?_ she thought bitterly. _Did you really think you were going to arrive here and feel at home right away? _Though her feelings held true, she was at least glad to be out of the orphanage, and out of the matron Akane-sama's iron grip. Despite of spending nearly ten years in that place it hadn't really ever felt like home to her; the only real bright sides to Rai had been her fellow friends (or hostages, rather) in the orphanage, and Kuno of course.

Kuno _especially_.

He had been her savior, her hero - he had taught her how to be a ninja. Under his supervision she had learned what chakra was, how to control it and bend it to her will. She had learned how to aim and hit a target with ranged weapons, but also how to battle them up close with nothing but her limbs. Five days a week, for five years Konoha had carefully snuck out of the orphanage after lights-out to train and snuck back in a couple hours before dawn. Kuno had been a father-figure of sorts to her, teaching her everything she needed to know, motivating her the days she felt like giving up and always, _always_ pushing her, when he really had nothing to gain from it.

Konoha had always wondered why he had been so dedicated to helping her, a clumsy little orphan he didn't have any obligations to, and why he hadn't just given up on her. She had asked him this once when she was nine, after a particularly difficult training session where she had messed up again and again, and he had beamed at her in response, ruffling her hair affectionately. _"I see a lot of myself in you, kiddo. You don't have a lot'a tact, but you got that fire in ya. It's what'll get ya far. It's what'll make ya a great ninja,"_ he had said. Konoha felt her heart warm at the memory. She would be eternally in her old mentor's debt and forever grateful to him. Without him, she would never have made it this far, Konoha knew.

As she arrived at the academy grounds, she immediately spotted a man near the entrance of the building who almost as quickly noticed her. He raised his right hand in a quick wave to confirm he was the one she was supposed to meet, and slowly started making his way towards her as she did the same.

"You must be Konoha-san," he said when he finally arrived in front of her. She nodded in affirmation. "Well, it's nice to meet you. My name is Umino Iruka. I'll be your teacher for the next five days." Iruka smiled politely and extended a hand to Konoha, who firmly shook it.

"No, pleasure's all mine, Iruka-sensei," the girl said courteously. "I hope I haven't inconvenienced you too much already with my being here."

"Oh, not at all," he replied modestly, not convincing either of them. Konoha observed the man quietly, mostly taking note of the rather transparent forced politeness that graced his face. He seemed like a nice enough guy to make the effort, she figured, but she was well aware of what he seemed to be thinking, his bodylanguage wary of her. She wasn't sure just how much the Hokage had told him about her life - most of it, probably - but she could tell he was calculating her presence as much as she was his.

Iruka then cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. "I assume the Hokage has given you a briefing on what you'll have to do before we decide if you are ready for the exams next week."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, the Hokage told me I would have to go through some tests to make sure I was up to par with the rest of the academy class."

"Great. I will be in charge of the ability tests. We start today after school." He paused and looked at her for a second before continuing, "It won't be easy, and I want you to know you can call it quits at any point if you feel like it's too much for you." Konoha opened her mouth to protest but Iruka quickly followed up, "I'm not saying that you would, of course, I'm just saying it's an option. Anyway, I trust that you are ready, Konoha-san."

"Rest assured, Iruka-sensei," she said determinedly as they slowly started walking towards the academy. "I won't be wasting your time."

Upon entering Iruka's classroom, Konoha became aware of three things. The first was that the classroom held a sweet stench of sweat mixed with overbearing floral-scented perfume. The second was that there were approximately thirty students that occupied it, and the third was that every single one of them was staring at her. The previously unsettling feeling in her stomach was now growing exponentially - Konoha absolutely despised being in the center of attention.

"Wow, it's nice to walk in and have you guys being nice and quiet for once," was Iruka's joyous comment.

_Not so nice if you're the new kid_, she thought inwardly but held a friendly expression.

"Well I'm glad you are, because I have an announcement to make." He put his hands on Konoha's back and gently guided her forward as if to emphasize her presence, completely ignoring the fact that all eyes were already on her. "Class, today we have a new student joining our academy, she has come all the way from The Land of The Lightening."

Immediately the class eurpted into whispering and Konoha felt her forced polite smile falter a bit.

"Class! Quiet, please!" Iruka yelled, clearly irritated that the calm and quiet hadn't lasted for more than a few seconds. He turned to the white-haired girl next to him and looked at her expectantly.

Konoha quickly caught on. "Oh, uh, hello everyone. My name is Konoha," she said, her gaze running from one side of the classroom to the other. "I'll be joining you for the next few days, so take good care of me please," she finished cordially, bowing her head slightly.

"Ohhhh-" a loud voice exclaimed. "You're a pretty girl, Konoha-chan!"

Konoha looked up to see a boy with messy blonde hair grinning at her.

"Thank you," she replied, feeling her cheeks grow slightly warm. The boy nodded his head cheerfully, seemingly proud with his comment, and he leaned back into his chair before flinging himself forward just as quickly and turning around to face the seat above him. "A-ah, bu-but Sakura-chan, you're still definitely the prettiest girl in Konoha, don't worry! You're my number one!"

The pink-haired girl above him, Sakura, Konoha presumed, looked down annoyedly at the blonde.

"Shut up Naruto, who'd want to get called pretty by you?"

"Awww c'mon Sakura-chan, don't be like that," Naruto whined.

Iruka scratched his head and uncomfortably laughed at the bickering kids, as if it were a regular occurrence. "Alright guys, settle down please." He turned to face Konoha. "Why don't you take the free seat next to Naruto over there?" He pointed in the general direction of the boy.

Pulling up beside her earlier complimenter, she smiled friendly at him as he stared at her with uninhibited curiousity.

"Hey, how come you're only starting now when there's five days left of the academy, Konoha-chan?" he asked, while Iruka started preparing scrolls for the lesson and the rest of the class was chattering away.

"Oh, well, I wasn't allowed to leave The Lightening Country until I became of age, and I just turned twelve two weeks ago," Konoha replied. She wasn't exactly lying, she really hadn't been able to leave the orphanage up until only a couple weeks earlier, but she didn't want people to know anything of the famous Founder's pin she had retrieved, or the fact that she was from a civilian village and not Kumogakure. It would simply attract too much attention, even the Hokage had said so, which was precisely what she was trying to avoid. Thankfully Naruto didn't ask any follow-up questions in that area.

"What's it like there? I've never been outside of The Fire Country," he admitted pountingly.

"Well..." Konoha thought about it for a moment. "It rains. A lot. The sun rarely comes out, and so there are a lot of snails everywhere due to that. Thousands of them, all over the place. They thrive in that environment, you know, 'cause the sun dries...them out..." she trailed off as she noticed Naruto's puzzled expression. She mentally cursed herself for picking the topic of snails to rant about. Naruto probably thought she was a real nutcase now.

But instead, he started laughing. "Konoha-chan, you're really funny, you know that? So you like snails, huh? That's cool."

She couldn't help but chuckle along with him, feeling oddly relieved at his easy-going disposition. Naruto suddenly turned quiet and instead inched his face closer to hers, staring into her eyes with a calculating expression.

"Wh-what is it?" Konoha stammered, feeling incredibly self-concious under his scrutinzing gaze.

"We have the same eye-color!" he finally exclaimed cheerfully while pointing at his own orbs.

Konoha peeked at his eyes and recognized the bright azure that she was used to seeing stare back at her in the mirror. "You're right," she grinned at him.

"By the way, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Konohagakure's number one ninja!" He lifted his chin proudly and pointed his thumb to his chest. "I'm going to be Hokage someday, you know!"

"Is that so?" Konoha leaned her head against her hand and observed him quietly, as if appraising him. When he nodded eagerly in response, she continued "And what are you going to do when you become Hokage then?" she asked.

Naruto's face fell for a moment and he looked thrown off at her question. He recovered quickly however, once again breaking into a beaming smile as he proclaimed,

"I'm gonna earn the respect of everyone in this village who doubts me!"

His answer took Konoha by surprise. She had thought for sure that his reply would establish how he was going to be the most important person in the village, or something of an equally conceited reasoning that most people her age seemed to possess, but despite of Naruto's laid-back and playful nature he had said it with such determination and assurance that she found it hard not to believe him.

"Ha-aaah. Spoken like a true leader," she replied winking at him, as Iruka finally began the lesson. The smile never left Naruto's face.

Konoha found that the academy wasn't as bad she had previously thought it would be. She had spent a large portion of the lesson furtively analyzing her classmates instead of paying attention to Iruka as she knew she would be having two of them in her team, provided she passed Iruka's training and the exit examinations. During recess several people had come up to her, evidently curious of her newly arrived presence. They had inquired about her reasons for 'transferring' here, but Konoha had swiftly managed to avoid answering that question directly, instead giving non-specific, routine responses. She had been slightly worried they would find her evasiveness annoying, and she didn't want to risk getting off on the wrong foot with with someone that might end up in her team - first impressions are crucial, Akane-sama always lectured - but they had seemed satisfied enough at her answers and assumed she was just shy.

Unsurprisingly, Konoha had hit it off the best with Naruto and she had even spent her lunch break with him, listening to him ramble on about the academy, his arch-nemesis 'Sasuke-bastard', and his love for the dish ramen. He hadn't really asked her much about herself which she was grateful for, and his non-stop ranting hadn't even been hindered by him chewing and swallowing his lunch. Konoha realized pretty quickly that the boy was starved for company and conversation, as the other people in their class seemed to avoid him in a habitual manner. She hadn't been able to figure out why, either, as Naruto had seemed very sweet and kind - a bit hyper perhaps, and on the overly-excited side, but that hardly warranted the type of behavior he was getting from his peers. Konoha didn't like it.

When classes had finished up for the day she had met up with Iruka, who had spent the next five hours testing her abilities with ranged weapons - dodging, hitting still and moving targets as well as her knowledge of lethal points of the human anatomy. She had reluctantly realized that she had been perhaps a tad bit too arrogant previously, when she thought Iruka's tests were going to be a piece of cake after her intense training sessions with Kuno, but Iruka made sure to bootcamp her hard. By the time they were done for the day, Konoha was nearly exhausted. Making it to her apartment had been a bona-fide struggle, and it took every remaining ounce of strength in her body to take a shower and load up on carbs - in order to retain the muscle-mass and speed up the recovery process, of course - before collapsing on to the bed, sincerely hoping the morning would come at a much slower pace than usual.

* * *

"Konoha-chan!" The piercing voice of the hyperactive ninja bellowed throughout the classroom. Konoha looked up from her seat to see Naruto making his way towards her. "Good-mor-ning!" he singsonged while plopping himself into the space next to her.

"Good-morning, Naruto. You're here early," she noted, remembering amusedly his little speech from yesterday during lunch; _"Listen up, Konoha-chan, I'm going to give you a life-pro tip! If you keep your clothes by your bed in the morning and brush your teeth while showering, and eat instant ramen in a cup that has an approximately 2-minute cooking time, you only have to wake up about twenty minutes before class starts! It's brilliant, I do it everyday!"_

Naruto laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah you see, I kinda had stomach problems earlier this morning, couldn't get to the toilet fast enough, know what I'm saying?"

Konoha snorted back a laughter at his honesty. She opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by an irritated voice behind her.

"Naruto, stop being so disgusting."

Both Konoha and Naruto turned around to see Sakura sneering down at the blonde.

"Honestly," the girl huffed indignantly and then turned to look at the silent boy sitting next to her. He didn't seem to be paying attention to the conversation as he was resting his chin against his clasped hands, staring ahead to the front of the classroom. "He really has no manners at all, does he, Sasuske-kun?" she sighed, leaning slightly towards him. "Not like you."

"Hn."

Naruto slightly scowled at Sasuke being the one on the receiving end of Sakura's praise, but then turned to the object of his affections. "But, Sakura-chan, it's normal to shit isn't it?" he asked confused. "I mean, you do it too, don't you?" He pointed at her.

Sakura instantenously froze, obviously horrified of the fact that Naruto had mentioned her bowel-movements infront of Sasuke. She clenched the hem of the fabric of her dress tightly as she felt a blush creeping in from her neck, warming her ears. She cast a furious look at Naruto, trying to figure out if there was any way to painfully decapitate the boy without getting into any serious trouble.

Konoha, who had taken notice of the murderous glare towards Naruto, quickly decided to step in and aid her friend before Sakura got a chance to chew his head off. "Oh come on, we all do it, right?" she laughed, waving her hand in a dismissive manner at the girl in an effort to lighten the atmosphere. "Even your boyfriend over there," she nodded at Sasuke, who slightly furrowed his eyebrows but remained silent. At the mention of the word 'boyfriend', Sakura's violent mood vanished and she was suddenly fidgeting, peeking at Sasuke from beneath her eyelashes to observe his reaction.

"Though he does look constipated at the moment."

Sasuke visibly twitched and snapped his head towards Konoha, who in turn smiled at him.

Naruto let out a barking laughter. "She called you constipated, Sasuke-bastard! Holy crap that's gold!"

"Naruto, be quiet, you idiot!" Sakura glared at Naruto, before turning to Konoha. "And you. Don't think you can be rude to Sasuke-kun just because you're new," she said irately. "He's the most powerful ninja here, far more than you will ever be."

"I was only joking. And who are you, his spokesperson?" Konoha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I speak for myself," a quiet, deep voice let out. Sasuke had finally decided to add to the conversation that was currently revolving around him. Konoha was surprised at how silky smooth his voice was; it didn't suit a twelve-year old at all.

At his reply, Sakura immediately started fidgeting again. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun, she was just being rude and I-"

"Really?" Konoha spoke over her while looking at Sasuke, not even bothering to acknowledge the girl she had just interrupted. "Could've had me fooled, with your girl barking like a little dog in your honor." _To hell with first impressions. _If people were going to act like jerks, she wasn't going to just sit quiet and take it.

"She's not my girl," he replied monotonously without breaking eye contact, while Sakura looked like his sentence had invoked a thousand bricks to to hit her at once. "And you should stop making assumptions about me. You don't know me," he said icily.

"And I don't care to," she replied smugly, and then turned to face the crestfallen girl. "And Sakura, was it? You're lucky Naruto puts up with the way you treat him, because I can tell you, he's the only one. I don't like spoiled little girls who treat people who are kind to them like dirt. It pisses me right off." With that, Konoha turned around in her seat to face the blackboard, not sparing another glance at the fuming, shamefaced girl behind her.

Naruto was now looking extremely uncomfortable. "Konoha-chan, I think that was a little bit too har-"

"I know, okay?" she cut him off, looking apologetic. "I just really don't like it when people are disrespecting my friends."

Naruto's eyes widened. "F-friends? You...you think we're friends, Konoha-chan?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I mean, I like you, Naruto. You're cool," she said, laughing a little. "Of course, it needs go both ways...I mean, if you don't want to be-"

"No, no no no! Of course I do!" He threw his arms around her and embraced her tightly as he laughed merrily. "You are definitely, definitely my friend too, Konoha-chan! Believe it!"

Konoha laughed genuinely at his enthusiastic display of affection. She suddenly felt reassured in that leaving Rai had been the right choice; despite missing Kuno terribly, as well as her friends and perhaps even the omnipresent snails a tiny little bit, she knew that it hadn't been the right place for her. She had never found a home in Rai.

Maybe she would find it here.

* * *

**Author's note: I felt inspired, so the second chapter was out pretty quickly, I hope you enjoyed it. For the record, I don't hate Sakura, but I'm not a fan of how she was written in the series at all. Thank you for the encouraging reviews in the last chapter, definitely helps motivate me to update faster, as you can see!**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does and is not my intellectual property. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

The forehead protector felt heavy with importance in Konoha's hands. She slid the long sash inbetween her fingers, reveling in its silky smoothness, and ran the pad of her thumb across the cold, shiny surface of the metal where the symbol of the village lay etched - a symbol more familiar to her than the characters of her own name, though she supposed they _were_ sort of interchangeable.

The whole thing felt incredibly surreal to her. She had arrived to Konoha just short of two weeks ago, and now she'd managed to prove to them, prove to _herself_, that she was a ninja worthy of being here. The exit examinations had actually been easier than anticipated; it was Iruka's ability tests that had been the real challenge. He hadn't joked when he'd said he wouldn't make it easy for her, and she was fairly certain he had tested her beyond what was expected of a Genin, probably to make sure she wouldn't be a liability to her future team. She didn't hold it against him; he'd done what he needed to do and she had passed, fair and square. Which is why from today onwards she would be one of them, and she would dedicate her life to serving and protecting the village, and by extension, The Fire Country. It felt odd, for sure, but her entire life had been building up to this. She was convinced that the pin had been with her for a reason, and she wanted to find out just what exactly that reason was.

Tying the protector to her forehead, she gingerly inspected her face in the bathroom mirror to see if she looked any different as a Genin - wiser, perhaps more mature - but was moderately disappointed to find that she didn't. Konoha tried pulling her bright white strands up into a pony-tail to see if that would make a difference, but leaving her neck bare felt wrong. Frustrated, she released her hair and let her tresses spill down her shoulders and back. Since when had she become one of those girls who cared about her looks? She was a ninja for God's sake, not some useless trophy wife. She should just be riding the high of having passed the examinations in the first place.

Letting out a heavy sigh, she made her way to the kitchen to grab her lunch before heading out of the apartment building. She had barely made it off the premises when she bumped into Naruto who had been waiting outside.

"Goodmorning, Konoha-chan!" he grinned, adjusting the protector that graced his own forehead.

"Naruto! What are you doing here?" Konoha was surprised. They hadn't made plans to meet up this morning.

"I'm here to walk you to the Academy, of course," he said like it was the most natural thing in the world. "We're Genins now, so we'll get assigned to teams and have to go on dangerous, badass missions soon. We probably won't have time to hang out as much anymore, so we have to make the most of it, you know?"

Konoha felt her heart tug at her friends thoughtful gesture. There was nothing in this world that felt as nice as knowing someone appreciated you that much. She threw her arm over his shoulders and gave him a squeeze before replying, "You really think you'll be able to get rid of me that easily, Naruto? I'll see you plenty."

"You better," he answered laughingly as they started making their way towards the Academy. Some friendships really were meant to be.

"I still can't believe you stole that scroll," she said after a while.

"Hey, it got me to pass, didn't it?"

* * *

When they entered the classroom, most people had already arrived and were seated, eagerly waiting for Iruka to appear while discussing who would get into teams with whom.

"They said they'll divide us up based on our abilities, right?" a dark-haired girl said. "So that every team will have an even distribution of strengths and weaknesses."

"At least we know Sasuke and Hinata won't end up together then. That would be totally unfair," a boy with tiny, beady eyes added.

"I heard they take other things into account too, like your family history and clan relationships."

Konoha felt her stomach drop. What family relations? She had none. Sinking down in her seat, she suddenly felt very nervous about the assorting.

"Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka are definitely getting into the same group then," the dark-haired girl said smirking.

"No way. I'm going to be on the same team as Sasuke-kun!" Yamanaka Ino had answered the girl matter-of-factly.

Konoha had quickly realized after her arrival at the Academy that Sasuke was on top of the food chain - he terrifyingly enough even had his own fanclub, filled with the most equal parts vicious and devoted girls she had ever met. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why either; he barely talked, and when he did, he was completely rude.

"Man, how much longer do we have to wait? I can't take it anymore," Naruto whined, impatience clearly not being one of his virtues.

As if on que Iruka then walked through the door, instantly causing the livid discussions to die down. Holding a clipboard he placed himself infront of his desk, clearing his throat before looking up at the class fondly.

"Well," he spoke up. "This is it you guys. You have finally become Genins." His smile held a bittersweetness to it as he took in the sight of having them as his students for the last time. "Most of you, I have known for six years. Some, a tad bit shorter than that," he added teasingly and looked at Konoha, who returned his smile, before he continued, "But I couldn't have asked for a better first class to teach. You all have been outstanding students who have worked incredibly hard and kept pushing yourself throughout the years, and I've seen you grow into these amazing ninjas. I could not be more proud of you. I know that you will go on to do many great things as the shinobis and kunoichis of this village, and I'm very grateful for having been your teacher. You guys are going to be an incredibly hard class to live up to."

It was definitely a touching speech, Konoha mused. She could hear some sniffles throughout the classroom, and she suddenly wished she had been able to attend since the beginning as well.

"We're grateful too, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed from beside her.

"Yeah, even if you are crazy about bananas," a boy with tribal marks on his face laughed, who Konoha was fairly certain was named Kiba. At his comment, the rest of the class erupted into laughter, and Konoha figured it must have been an inside joke. She shifted in her seat, feeling slightly left out.

"Yeah, yeah," Iruka said, but couldn't help but to chuckle. "Thank you for that, Kiba. Anyway, I suppose it's time I assigned you to your teams then, huh?" At that, the whole class cheered loudly. "So, as you all know, every group will be a three-man squad, each led by a Jōnin-level ninja. There will be no switching groups, complaining about fellow squad members, squad leaders or anything of that variation. You're not kids anymore, you're real ninjas now. Make sure to act like it." Iruka looked sternly at Naruto, who laughed nervously. "I will begin by calling out your name and the team you're assigned to."

Iruka raised his clipboard and began reading out the names of the people in the classroom, and Konoha found her pulse increasing in anticipation every time he finished with a team and she hadn't been on it. She was suddenly struck with an irrational fear; what if her name wouldn't be called? What if there hadn't been a place for her?

"...and Yuuji Oona. Team 6, led by Kobeni Saito," Iruka read. "Alright, next up is Uzumaki Naruto..."

Konoha quickly glanced to her side and saw that Naruto had straightened his back and was now giving the teacher his undivided attention.

"...Uchiha Sasuke..."

Ouch. Poor Naruto, ending up with the one person he really hadn't wanted to. The blonde's shoulders had slumped, and he was looking pretty defeated. Konoha patted his back sympathetically.

"...And Konoha, in Team 7, led by Hatake Kakashi."

Konoha whipped her head up to Iruka, surprised when she heard her own name, and then when it registered for her that she would be in Naruto's team turned to meet said person's beaming face. She grinned back thrillfully, joy overcoming her at the fact that she had ended up with her friend.

She then remembered the third member of their squad and curiously turned around to where he was sitting to discreetly view his reaction, only to meet his gaze instead. He was staring at her with an unindentifiable expression on his face. She couldn't tell what he was thinking; if he was disappointed or angry he didn't show it. In the spirit of truce, she offered him a small, friendly smile but Sasuke didn't reciprocate, instead turning his head away and ignoring her.

She sighed dejectedly at his coldness, realizing being on the same team with him definitely wasn't going to be a breeze. She was about to turn forward to Iruka when she caught sight of the girl next to Sasuke, who was absolutely fuming at her - most likely for having ended up in the same team as her beau. Konoha quickly turned around.

"Hey, Konoha-chan," she heard Naruto whisper excitedly. "I can't believe we're on the same team! This is goin' to be so awesome!" He gestured two thumbs up at her while cheekily smiling, evidently as happy with the outcome as she was.

Yeah, it was going to be completely awesome minus squad member number three, ice-block Uchiha Sasuke, who didn't quite seem to share their joy. Konoha suddenly froze in her seat as newfound realization swept over her. Wait a minute, did Iruka say _Uchiha_ Sasuke? She suddenly felt every fiber of her body willing her to turn around and look at the boy again, but she forced herself to remain still. So Sasuke was an Uchiha then? And he was going to be on the same team as her.

Konoha wasn't sure how to feel about that. Studying up on the history of the village, she had of course read about the famous Uchiha clan who had held a part in the founding of it, not to mention the fact that they were wielders of the Sharingan, a very old and powerful bloodline trait from what she had read. No wonder Sasuke was so popular then. But did that really mean he had to act like such a jerk? Was it an elitist-thing, were they all like that in his clan? She really wanted to ask him.

After Iruka had finished with calling out all ten teams, people moved to sit with their respective members. Sasuke however, didn't move from his seat. His stubborn behaviour started to grate Konoha's nerves. Couldn't he at least pretend to be cooperative? Well, she wasn't about to move from where she sat. As far as she knew, etiquette called for him to move, not her and Naruto. When three minutes had passed and he still hadn't made an effort to do so, she finally had enough. She spun around in her chair to face him.

"Oi, are you going to join us, or what?" she asked impatiently.

"No."

"What do you mean, no, you bastard?" Naruto roared. "We're a team and Iruka-sensei told us to sit together with our teams and socialize, so get your ass over here!" He wildly gestured at the empty seat, but Sasuke didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

"Shut up, moron," came his only answer.

"What the hell did you just say?" Naruto flew out of his seat dramatically but was immediately tugged back down by Konoha.

"Calm down Naruto, don't make a scene," she told the blonde strictly.

"But, Konoha-chan..."

His whining was interrupted by the door sliding open, and several Jōnin's walked in, calling out their assigned numbers and leading their teams out one by one. After some time, the only one that remained in the classroom was Team 7. Even Iruka had left at this point.

"This is so boring. When is it going to be our turn? We've been waiting for over two hours now," Naruto complained.

"Maybe something happened," Konoha suggested, not convincing anyone.

"Yeah, maybe he forgot about us," he grumbled, burying his head in his hands exasperatedly. "This is stupid."

Konoha opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Sasuke speaking up.

"Naruto."

"What?"

"How'd you make Genin?" Sasuke asked curiously."Last time I saw you perform a shadow jutsu, you couldn't even make a single clone."

Naruto laughed smugly, reveling in the fact that he knew something that Sasuke didn't. "Oh, you mean like this?" he grinned and quickly signed with two hands. His form then duplicated by ten as Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. Naruto and all his clones started laughing at the Uchiha's shocked face, and even Konoha couldn't hold herself back from grinning. So typical Naruto to take advantage of a situation to taunt Sasuke.

Naruto however, decided to take things a step further. Turning around and pulling his pants down slightly, he started wiggling his rear at the dark-haired boy. It only took a few seconds before his clones followed his lead, and then all ten forms were aligned and mooning Uchiha Sasuke, who looked to be seething in his seat.

"How do you like this, bastard, huh?" the clones laughed over their shoulders in unision. Konoha remained speechless but then peeked a glance at Sasuke who was frowning and balling his fists in frustration, and burst into laughter at the absurding sight. Serves the stuck-up jerk right.

Without warning, the classroom door slid open and a tall man wearing a mask that covered everything but his eyes walked in and came to a standstill infront of the Naruto's. When Naruto noticed his presence he froze up mid-mooning, while Konoha and Sasuke remained completely still where they sat, stiffly waiting for someone to break the awkward silence that followed. The man's right eye - his left one being covered by his conveniently placed forehead protector - ran from Naruto's shocked face, to Konoha's stunned one, to Sasuke's slightly furrowed expression. Finally, he spoke up.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I must be in the wrong classroom. I'm looking for Team 7, could you point me in the right direction?" he asked kindly.

"That's, uh...us..." Konoha slowly said while telepathically trying to will Naruto into getting out of the trance he seemed to be in and cover his bare ass up.

"Hmm," Hatake Kakashi thoughtfully hummed. "How do I put this...my first impression of you all is that you're idiots."

It was hard to argue that, Konoha thought, as Naruto finally decided to get rid of his clones and pull his pants up, all while his ears turned bright red.

"You're late," he accused, obviously trying to shift the embarrassment of having been caught in the act.

"Oh, did we have a previously agreed-upon time frame for our meeting?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then I'm just on time, aren't I?" he replied happily. "Now, how about you follow me and we can get started?"

The trio awkwardly followed the Jōnin out to the park where he then decided that the first order of business would be to introduce themselves.

"So, I want to hear who you are, your hobbies, aspirations, likes and dislikes, that sort of thing. Oh, and add some interesting fun fact, like your favorite sound. Like, take me for example. My name Is Hatake Kakashi. My hobbies include reading classic books and birdwatching. What I like hearing the most is the sensual sound of a woman's voice. My dislikes...well, I'm not too impressed by you three at the moment." Naruto and Konoha slightly sneered at that. "Alright, your turn now." He turned to Sasuke and expectantly waited for him to start.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," was all he said.

"Okay, Sasuke. Got any hobbies?" Kakashi encouragingly asked.

"I don't."

"Dislikes? Aspirations?" the teacher tried again.

Sasuke cast a distasteful glance at Konoha and Naruto, but remained quiet.

"Alright, well, what do you enjoy listening to the most?"

"The sound of his own voice," Konoha joked, which resulted in a snickering Naruto. Sasuke didn't seem to find it funny, but still said nothing.

"Well, can't say that was informative. Moving on." He nodded at Naruto, who squared his shoulders and cleared his throat.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto! My hobbies include eating and trying out new types of ramen, which of course is my favorite food. My favorite sound is the one the microwave makes when my ramen has finished cooking. I like Sakura-chan a lot! And Konoha-chan too, she's my awesome friend. And I really dislike Sasuke-bastard!" he finished excitedly. "Oh, I almost forgot: I'm going to become Hokage someday, too!"

"Hmm." Kakashi quietly observed the blonde, and Konoha silently wondered what exactly it was their teacher was thinking. He definitely seemed to know more about Naruto than he let on, though it didn't look like Naruto recognized him. Kakashi then seemed to have broken out of his thoughts because he turned to Konoha, indicating that it was her turn.

She licked her dry lips and cleared her throat. "My name's Konoha. I'm from The Lightening Country originally, and I just moved here. My hobbies...well, I really enjoy spending time at places high above the ground, though I'm not sure that counts as a hobby," she laughed nervously. She really despised forced introductions like these. "I like the sound of rain and I dislike..." She was quiet for a moment before continuing, "Well I don't know if there's anything I really dislike. When people give up on each other, maybe." She nodded to herself, as if content with her reply.

"Well, now that we're all familiar with each other, you guys should know there's a catch here." Kakashi said.

Konoha quickly looked up from the spot she had been focusing on in the ground. _A catch?_

"All initial teams have to go through a so-called Bell Test, to decide whether or not you have what it takes to be active servers of this village. If you do not pass it, you're off the team and back into the Academy."

"What the hell!"

"A test?" Konoha asked exasperated. Yet another one? Hadn't she proved herself enough already?

Sasuke seemed to be sharing her thoughts when he narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. "You can't do that, we already made Genin."

"Au contraire Sasuke-kun, I really can." He gave the Uchiha a crinkle of the eye that indicated he was smiling beneath his mask. "Truth of the matter is, I'm not really sure you three have what it takes to be active servers of this village, and village regulations are very strict, they don't tend to take unecessary risks that aren't worth the pay-off. In other words, even if you passed the examinations, we have to make sure you're fit enough to be on the team, and that you're able to perform along with the rest of your teammates."

"Okay, so what are the rules?" Konoha looked at her mentor, deciding she could be angry later. Right now she needed to focus on the task infront of her.

Kakashi brought up two small bells infront of him and jingled them against each other. "Here are the targets. I want you to take a good, long look at them because they will be your ticket to stay on this team. Your objective is to grab one from me by sunset. If you can't do that, you're out."

"Alright Kakashi-sensei, you are on!" Naruto pumped his fist energetically towards the teacher.

"But why are there only two bells then?" Konoha asked perplexed.

"There are only two potential ninjas I see on this team. I trust that those two will be able to get them," Kakashi answered.

"If you only see potential in two of us, why not just send the third back immediately?" Sasuke wondered displeased.

"Well, I'd like to give all three of you a fair chance. After all, I could be wrong about the potential two. In the end, the ones with the bell in their possession will be the strongest members." He held the shiny bells up. "Are you guys ready?"

All three Genin's instantly stood up and assumed battle position, eyes focused on the metal object dangling from the teacher's hands. He attached them to his jacket, just above the left pocket of his pants.

"Come get 'em."

The trio raced towards their teacher, who blurred away the instant they reached him.

"Where the hell did he go?!" Naruto yelled, looking left and right.

"Quiet!" Sasuke demanded as he looked down at the ground focused. Konoha quickly caught on and raised her finger to her mouth in a silencing gesture at Naruto, who was about to go off on Sasuke for having the gall to tell him what to do. All three stood completely frozen, not daring to move an inch of muscle lest they miss the sound. Suddenly, they heard the faintest sound of soft jingle. Konoha, Sasuke and Naruto all three sprinted up from the ground and towards the sound, all three determined to be the one to catch the bell.

Six hours later, and they hadn't even come close. So far, the closest one had been Sasuke who had managed to touch Kakashi's leg, but he quickly realized it hadn't been his skill or even sheer luck that had gotten him there, but his teacher playing on his over-confidence. It had thoroughly pissed him off.

Naruto had been the one to fall into most of the traps Kakashi had laid out, one had even had him hanging from his legs, wrapped in a cocoon that restricted all use of hand movements. He had called for Konoha to cut him down, but Sasuke had arrived at the scene first, forcing Naruto to withstand the humiliation of his taunting smirk.

Konoha however, had been feeling very confused. The first five hours she had spent in dread at the thought of going back at the Academy for another year after realizing just how impossible it would be to get the bell on her own. Then, when she noticed that neither Sasuke nor Naruto had come close to getting it either, it had dawned on her.

"Naruto! Sasuke! It's urgent, I need to talk to you!" she yelled out while raising her hands above her head to show that it wasn't a trick.

Naruto appeared first, visibly worried. "What's wrong Konoha-chan? Are you hurt?" he asked, eyeing her limbs up and down for any visible signs of wounds or bleeding.

Konoha smiled at his sweetness, but shook her head. "No. But I know how we can get the bells."

That seemed to have been the magic word, because Sasuke suddenly hopped out of a tree infront of them, having obviously observed the situation prior to engaging in it.

"What did you want?" he asked impatiently.

"Here's what I think, and try to keep an open mind. We've been at this for over six hours, and none of us have even touched one of the bells, am I wrong?" Naruto shook his head while Sasuke just waited for her to go on. "He's a Jōnin and old as a dinosaur, so of course the test isn't designed for rookies just out of the Academy to be able to grab one from him," Konoha explained. "But, if all three of us were to team up and go at him at once, we might stand a chance in getting them."

"How do you see that working when there's three of us and only two bells?" Sasuke asked disdainfully. "The way I see it, one person is going to get screwed over here, and knowing the two of you, it's going to be me. Why would I agree to that?" He finished, not breaking Konoha's gaze.

"What about you, Sasuke-bastard, huh? What if during our teamworkin' you get a hold of both bells and decide you don't want to share?" Naruto countered suspiciously.

"Listen you guys. We work as a team to get ahold of both bells, and then we have a match-off between each other to decide which two get to keep the bells, completely fair. What do you think?"

"That's actually not a dumb idea," Sasuke smirked, and Konoha instantly knew what he meant by that - he thought her and Naruto were going to be easy opponents. Well, as Kuno always said; being underestimated was never truly an insult, it could only serve as a gift. She returned his smirk.

"Do you have a plan on how we're gonna do it then, Konoha-chan?" Naruto asked her.

"I have one that might work. Kakashi saw your clones earlier today when he walked into the classroom, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I've also tried using them on him to get the bells, but he destroys them too fast."

"Oh, that's even better." Konoha smugly grimaced. "Alright, so, here's my plan..."

* * *

Kakashi was sitting on a tree branch, casually turning the page of the novel he was currently reading. It had been about half an hour, give or take, since any of them had tried anything, but he wasn't too taken by their skill at this point. They had not only managed not to come close to a bell, but had completely failed to realize the point of the whole exercise, and there wasn't much time left until sunset. He sighed frustratingly as he closed his book; he hadn't been able to concentrate on the damn thing at all, his mind instead drifting towards the obvious - his new team. He wasn't quite sure how to feel about them, as having the Uchiha and the son of Minato on his team envoked emotions he had worked hard to supress over the years. Feelings of guilt, nostalgia and regret resurfaced; feelings he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with quite yet. The fact that Naruto had aspirations to become Hokage had made it even harder. The descendants of the two people who had made the biggest impact in his life were now his charges. The Hokage really had a twisted sense of humor.

His senses then piqued and broke him out of his thoughts, and he casually lifted his left leg over his right one as a shuriken hit the spot in the bark where it had rested only half a second before. So they were going at it again, then? He offhandedly wondered which one of them it would be this time as he jumped down from the tree, waiting for the attacker to show their face.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei! Prepare to be defeated!" He heard Naruto's voice scream.

Kakashi turned to see the ninja running towards him, followed by ten of his shadow clones, and sighed dissapprovingly as he put his novel away in his back pocket. Using shadow clones had been Naruto's one and only strategy since the beginning of the test. Though he was undoubtedly good at distributing chakra and multiplying - more so than any Genin-level ninja he had ever seen - the downside to shadow clones was that they didn't hold much strength to begin with, especially not if you had just learned how to perform them. One throw of a kunai was all it took to destroy them.

"Again, Naruto?" he asked as he jumped up, and using Naruto's head as a vaulting box flew over him and his clones and landed on the opposite side away from them. All ten Naruto's turned around and started racing towards him once again, now with the original Naruto behind them instead. Kakashi impassively threw his kunais at the clones, watching them disappear into smoke one by one.

Five of them had managed to dodge his attack; he threw once again, and watched as two more disappeared. There were now only two left that had almost reached him, along with Naruto who was right behind them. Throwing the last two kunai's, Kakashi decided to use a mild wind jutsu to effectively blow Naruto back. As the daggers hit the last two clones and they disappeared into smoke, he started performing the handsigns necessary but realized all too late that the two remaining clones hadn't actually disappeared but rather transformed back into a smirking Sasuke and Konoha, who swiftly aimed to deliver two kicks to his sides that he just barely managed to block with his arms, giving Naruto exactly enough of a distraction to quickly slide against the ground through Kakashi's two legs and grab the bells along with him.

"Got 'em!" he yelled as he had come to a halt in the dirt. Kakashi tumbled back in surprise, touching the place where his bells had previously hung and then looked back at Naruto who was grinning from ear to ear in triumph, holding the tiny metal balls up. He then threw them at Sasuke, who one-handedly caught them in the air, as the Uzumaki got out of the dirt to dust himself off.

"Looks like we win, Kakashi-sensei," Konoha laughed. "Thanks for underestimating us, it really helped a lot."

He was taken aback for a few seconds before quickly recovering, his eye glinting approvingly. "Hn. Very impressive strategy," he nodded to his students. "I have to admit, you definitely took me by surprise. Deciding to team up and pose as one of Naruto's clones? You sure did get creative. But," Kakashi pointed a finger up at the dim, orange-glowing sky, "The sun has almost set. How did you decide which two will get to keep the bells?"

Konoha cast a panicked look at Naruto first and then Sasuke, who was holding the bells. They wouldn't have time to fight it out now, and him holding them gave him all the power. This had been a bad idea after all, she realized, and was just about to curse herself viciously for it when she heard Sasuke's voice.

"Here."

She looked up to see him throwing her one bell and Naruto the other one.

"You two should have them," he said.

Konoha's eyes widened in disbelief. Did Sasuke actually just give them the bells? She turned to Naruto who seemed just as speechless at the whole situation as she was, and then back to Sasuke who was just standing there calmly, looking at them like he was asking for the time, not giving up his place on the squad.

Her features softened as she stared at the bell in her hand. Sasuke was sacrificing himself for her, despite of how she had treated him earlier. And sure, truth to be told, Konoha wanted nothing more than to just accept the bell and have that be the end of it. Life wasn't fair, and she had fought with everything she had for the past few weeks, no, past few _years_ to get where she was now, and the prospect of going back to the Academy for another year felt incredibly painful. She deserved this. She deserved to be on the squad.

But looking at Sasuke, she knew there was no way she could do it. Sacrificing a team member for her own selfish gains was not the kind of kunoichi she wanted to be. She hadn't worked hard for all these years to be the kind of person that put herself first and let other people take the fall for her because it was the easiest way. Yes, she deserved those bells. But then again, so did Sasuke.

"No," she resolutely said, throwing the bell back at Sasuke who graciously caught it. "You deserve it."

"Wait, Konoha-chan-," Naruto began to protest after her gesture, but then as quickly closed his mouth, instead looking thoughtful. He then grabbed Konoha's hand and firmly placed his bell into it. "Then you take mine."

She shook her head. "Naru-"

"Well done," Kakashi interrupted her. "You all pass."

"W-we-what?!" Naruto spluttered out confused. "How do we all pass?"

Kakashi's eye crinkled as he was obviously smiling behind his mask. "This was a team exercise, to see if you could work together selflessly as a team, and did. You not only got together and actually managed to retrieve the bells, but you were all nobly willing to sacrifice your spot on the team for the other. Maybe you guys aren't complete idiots, after all."

"So the 'potential two ninjas'-talk was all just a way of throwing us off?" Sasuke asked.

"Yup."

"Cheap, Kakashi-sensei. That was totally cheap," Konoha groaned as she started stretching her aching arms. Incredibly clever as well, not that she would ever admit it out loud.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi responded, though he didn't look it at all. "Well, we're done now, so you are free to go. Nice work today, and I'll see you guys tomorrow at eight sharp. Don't be late!" He waved as he walked off.

Sasuke nodded civilly towards Konoha and Naruto before turning around and making his way to leave as well.

"Aw man, I am so starved. Want to come with to Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked the girl.

She shook her head. "Sorry, not tonight. I'm so tired after today that all I can think about is going home to sleep."

"Suit yourself. I'll see you tomorrow then, Konoha-chan. Oh, and your plan was awesome!" he grinned, holding his fist out infront of her and patiently waiting as she caught on and bumped her own against it. He looked at her, his eyes twinkling with joy. "I'm really, really glad you're on my team," he said earnestly.

"Me too, Naruto," she smiled at the boy. "See you tomorrow."

He then gave her a thumbs up before quickly dashing off into the direction of the restaurant. How he had so much energy left after today, she really didn't know.

When he had disappeared, she opened her palm and once again looked puzzled at the tiny bell that was still in her possession, and then at the retreating back of the person responsible for her confusion. Konoha couldn't figure him out; why on earth had Sasuke given her and Naruto the bells, when just hours before he hadn't even been able to stand talking to the two of them? Granted, it had been _her_ plan to start with that had gotten them the bells, so on that front she could rationalize her getting one...but why the hell would he let Naruto, his nemesis, stay on the team while he himself got sent back to the Academy? Unless...

"Sasuke!" she yelled out at his back. He abruptly stopped and turned around to look at her, one eyebrow raised curiously.

"You knew Kakashi was bluffing right then, didn't you?"

Sasuke looked surprised for a second before a smug smirk graced his features as he looked at her.

Konoha continued, "You knew he was either bluffing, or you were betting on me not letting you give me your bell and sacrifice yourself in the process. You weren't worried at all about being sent back to the Academy, were you?" She looked at him anticipatingly.

"I have no idea what you're on about," he said, still smirking, and Konoha knew she had hit the nail on the head.

"I'm pretty sure you do."

He observed her amusedly for a few seconds but didn't humor her theories. Finally, he said, "I'll see you tomorrow, Konoha," before turning around and continuing walking.

Konoha shook her head but couldn't help but smile. Of course Sasuke would have no problem with selfish gains. She had to hand it to him, he was a lot smarter than she had initially given him credit for. This would definitely be an interesting team.

* * *

**Author's note: So, another chapter out! This definitely took longer to write 'cause life got in the way, but on the upside it's almost twice as long as the previous one, so I hope you enjoy it! And did anyone really think Sasuke would give his spot to Konoha, or _Naruto_? Hehe. Thank you for all the amazing reviews in the previous chapters, you guys rock.**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does, this story is for entertainment purposes only.

* * *

"What the hell, didn't he tell us not to be late?" Naruto stomped in frustration and turned to face the white-haired girl to his left. "Like the two hours yesterday weren't enough! Right, Konoha-chan?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "This is getting pretty ridiculous."

Naruto grumbled as he started pacing back and forth again, clearly having trouble standing still for longer periods of time. Not that anyone could blame him really; the sun that morning was scorching hot, and the branches of the large tree at the end of the river bridge they were on barely managed to conceal the rays enough for some relief.

After a while of restlessly walking around in the confines of the tree shadow, Naruto abruptly stopped, this time in front of Sasuke, who was casually leaning against the rail and looking at something off into the distance.

"Oi, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned curiously to face the blonde, probably surprised at the unusually low decibel of his voice. "What?"

Naruto cleared his throat, obviously feeling uncomfortable in talking to his self-proclaimed rival, but he looked very determined. "I, uh, just...well, I kinda just wanted to say," he stammered, focusing his eyes on anything but the Uchiha. He seemed particularly fond of a piece of granite rock that was on the ground next to him. "About uh, yesterday, and the bell…"

Konoha immediately realized what Naruto was going at and remembered she hadn't told him about the fact that Sasuke hadn't actually been willing to sacrifice his spot for the two of them. She opened her mouth to say something to her hyperactive friend but closed it just as quickly when it came to her. Maybe it would be best to keep quiet about it, and let Naruto think Sasuke had done a selfless deed for him; if they were going to be a team, they would need to get along - or be civil to one another at the very least - and this might be just the thing to inspire Naruto to let go of his long-term grudge against their teammate. And if Sasuke could act cordially now as well, maybe the two could bury the hatchet and finally become a real team.

Naruto's eyes now firmly met Sasuke's. "I guess what I wanted to say was...thank you. For doing that, I mean. I think it was really sort of cool of you to be willing to give up your spot for me, Sasuke-bastard, after everything…"

The left corner of Sasuke's lips twitched slightly as he responded, "Careful, you might hurt yourself with all that thinking."

Or maybe not.

"What the hell did you just say to me, you bastard?" Naruto snarled, grabbing ahold of the other boy's blue t-shirt. "I was trying to thank you, asshat!" He bared his teeth while pulling him forward threateningly, but Sasuke looked unruffled.

Konoha then decided it was time to step in and separate the riled up shinobi from his target. "Alright, let's all just calm down. I don't want to have to explain to Kakashi-sensei why the two of you are bleeding from several open holes in your body."

Naruto reluctantly relented and let go of his fistful of shirt, but grunted unhappily. Sasuke adjusted the wrinkled material and then fixed his hard gaze on him.

"I don't need your thankfulness," he said coldly. "I just need you to stay out of my way. Both of you," he added, his eyes shifting from Naruto to Konoha. "I'm not here because I want to be, but because it's the only way I'm going to acquire my goal. So you two better not slow me down."

It was the most Konoha had ever heard him talk at once. So he didn't want to be here with them? Tough luck, he was, and she wasn't about to spend the remaining future with this team walking on eggshells around him because of that. And to think she actually thought things would be a bit more civil after yesterday.

"You don't get to call the shots here, Sasuke," she informed him. "I get that you're from this heavy-hitter clan, and I'm sure you're their golden boy, but we're a team now. And we will be for a long time, so can we start acting like one?" she finished, but found that her attempt at convincing him had failed as his eyes had turned even colder. While Konoha knew that they had gotten off on the wrong foot, she was determined to try and fix it.

With Sasuke's deafening silence for an answer, she decided to try another tactic instead. "So, what's this goal you want to reach? Maybe we can help you," she said, nodding to herself and Naruto.

"That, is none of your business," he hissed, and Konoha swore she felt a chill run up her back. Apparently their little exchange yesterday had been a complete fluke, because he was acting as cold right now as when she'd first talked to him.

Naruto was now beyond furious as he pointed at Sasuke menacingly. "Hey, she was just trying to be nice to you, not that you deserve it, you stupid-"

"Naruto!" someone yelled from behind them, effectively cutting off their argument. The three members of team 7 turned around to see a short boy with messy brown hair running towards them, flailing his right arm wildly in an attempt at a wave. Naruto's heavy scowl instantaneously transformed into a smile as he ran up to meet him.

"Konohamaru! What are you doing here?" he asked, affectionately ruffling the boy's hair.

"Oh, we were out training shuriken-throws in the park but I got bored, so I ditched them to go play in the river. Then I got here, and saw you," Konohamaru explained, slightly out of breath. He then looked behind Naruto. "Are you here with your team? That is so cool!"

"Yep!" Naruto grinned proudly, clearly enjoying the fact that he was impressing the kid with his Genin-status. "We're waiting for our teacher to show, and then we're going to go off on dangerous missions," he said nonchalantly while looking at his nails. Konoha bit her lip to keep back the smile that was threatening to spill at his attempt at showing off.

"Oh man, I wanna go on badass missions too!" the little boy pouted, and Konoha found herself thinking how much he resembled Naruto when he did that. She approached the pair and slightly bent down to meet Konohamaru's level.

"Hey there," she said, smiling friendly at him. "Are you a friend of Naruto's?"

He was looking at her surprised. "Uh, y-yes," was all he managed to stammer out before Naruto decided to swoop in with introductions.

"Konohamaru, this is my awesome teammate, Konoha-chan." He patted her shoulder fondly. "She's really smart and cool. Konoha-chan, this is Konohamaru. He's my protégé, I'm teaching him everything I know, dattebayo!"

"Nice to meet you, Konohamaru." Konoha grabbed his hand politely and shook it, as the boy continued staring, wide-eyed.

"Your name is Konoha?" he repeated, amazed. "That's almost like my name! Are you named after the village, too?" He seemed excited at the thought of someone else sharing his fate.

"Ah, well, I don't know about that," she replied, not really sure of what to say. Wasn't that what she was looking to find out by coming here? Not that she could tell him that. Neither Naruto or Sasuke knew about her past yet, and this was hardly the moment to start talking about it. The last thing she wanted was to get pitied or thought of differently, especially by Naruto. "I never really asked, but I'd like to think so," she finally said. It wasn't exactly a lie.

The answer had apparently been to his satisfaction, as Konohamaru beamed brightly towards her, and she noticed he was missing a tooth. Adorable.

He stopped when he noticed the third squad-member, who was introvertedly standing by himself by the bridge rail. "Who's that guy?"

"Oh, that's Sasuke. He doesn't really like people," she replied sarcastically, looking over her shoulder at said person who was currently ignoring them. "But don't mind him. So, what has Naruto been teaching you? Anything cool?"

"Yeah, we've been pimping up the Hokage monuments regularly," Konohamaru laughed. Konoha raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto who scratched his head embarrassed. "Oh, and he also taught me this awesome jutsu, here, let me show you!"

"Wait, Konohamaru, don't-" Naruto yelled in panic, but it was already too late, as the boy had vanished into smoke, and successfully transformed himself into a nude, busty brunette who was flirtily posing and pouting at Konoha.

"Oh, my God!" Konoha screamed, getting the attention of Sasuke who started choking on his spit at the sight, and was now coughing furiously.

"Uzumaki Naruto," Konoha bellowed at a terrified-looking Naruto. "What the hell were you thinking?! The kid is-" she whipped her head to Konohamaru. "How old are you?"

"Eight."

"Eight! The kid is eight! And you teach him something like this?"

"I'm sorry, Konoha-chan, really, I wasn't thinking-"

"Moron," came Sasuke's comment.

"And why are his breasts so huge?" she asked, pointing at the unproportionally large rack the female Konohamaru was sporting. Naruto remained silent, clearly unaware of how to answer her question in the most politically correct way.

Suddenly, they heard another voice. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, there was a kitten in a tree and-" Kakashi stopped talking when he saw the elephant in the room. Or in this situation, the naked girl on the bridge. In half a second, he was at Konohamaru's side and took his hand into his. "Hello, fair maiden. Are you lost? Can I help you?" he inquired kindly while indiscreetly eyeing the curves up and down.

Konoha shook her head at her mentor's lewd behavior, while Konohamaru grimaced and let out a, "Gross," before effectively turning himself back to his original form.

"Oh," Kakashi said surprised. "I've never had that happen to me before with a lady."

Konoha, Sasuke and Naruto all stared at him deadpan. "Seriously, are you really Jonin?"

* * *

So far, being a ninja hadn't really been what Konoha had expected. Realistically, she had known that it wouldn't be all important missions and fighting enemy nins like Naruto had hoped for, but this was a little too far out on the opposite side of the spectrum.

They had spent the majority of the day doing various chores, such as helping The Lord of the Fire Country's wife with her grocery shopping and weeding out the chief counsellor's backyard. When it comes to helping the village, all work is noble work, Kakashi had said. She knew that it made sense, but her greediness and thirst for adventure definitely got the better of her. So when they at the end of the day were reporting the missions at the Hokage's and Naruto put his foot down, demanding they get something more important, she had backed him up.

"So, Naruto wants to prove he's not a kid anymore, huh?" The Hokage said, chuckling. "I suppose that's fair. Well, I might have something for you. A C-rank mission."

"Forreal?" Naruto asked surprised. "That's awesome! What do we get? Are we going to hunt down a missing nin? Spy on enemies? Rescue kidnapped civilians and kick some shinobi butt?" he rambled excitedly.

"Not exactly. You are to be bodyguards on a journey for one of our visitors from The Land of Waves."

The blonde boy lit up like a christmas tree. "Yes! That's so badass! Who is it we're protecting?"

"He's a master bridge builder who goes by the name of Tazuna-san. He's very well-known and respected in his homeland, and outside of it as well," The Hokage explained.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "If he's so famous, how come I've never heard of him?"

Konoha nudged Naruto playfully. "Probably because he doesn't manufacture ramen."

Both Kakashi and The Hokage laughed at her comment, while Naruto slightly pouted. Even Sasuke had the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Not cute, Konoha-chan."

The Hokage quickly converted back to his professional image as he continued, "Your mission begins at seven AM tomorrow. Tazuna-san will be waiting for you outside of the village gates." He brought out a manilla envelope and nodded at Kakashi, who stepped forward to take it. "I wish you good luck, team 7."

As the majority of the team made themselves ready to go, Konoha suddenly said, "You guys go ahead, I just want to ask Hokage-sama something." At Naruto's quizzical expression, she added, "It won't take long, I promise."

When the rest of the team had walked out, The Hokage benevolently smiled at her. "How do you like it in your new team?" he politely asked.

"Thank you," she blurted out, and then nearly slapped herself when she realized she hadn't given him the context. "For putting me with Naruto, I mean." She wasn't sure if it was even appropriate to thank him for doing so, since it wasn't like he had done it out of a favour to her, but she figured she might as well. Despite having grown up alone in Rai - lonely, she figured, was a better word, since living in the orphanage had meant always being surrounded by children - and being used to only having herself to rely on, arriving to Konohagakure had still made her feel out of place. That is, until she met Naruto, who had selflessly wanted to be her friend and asked for nothing in return. She had never had that kind of friendship before, and she had resolved since the beginning to treasure it with everything she had.

The Hokage looked surprised for a moment but recovered immediately. Smiling once again, he asked, "I take it you've become good friends, then?"

"Yes, very," she said honestly. At her reply, she saw an array of emotions flash behind his eyes, but she couldn't place any of them.

"That's good. Very good." He nodded to himself, and Konoha wished in that moment that she possessed the powers to rummage through his mind and see what he was thinking. He then asked her, "And what about Uchiha Sasuke?"

At the mention of his name, Konoha sighed. "He's...difficult. I get the feeling he looks down at our capabilities and thinks he's too good for us. I've tried making nice with him, but his self-righteous attitude is making it really hard."

Sarutobi nodded understandingly, but then said, "Don't give up on him, please. Sasuke has his reasons for behaving like that, although I'm not one to justify bad behavior. But he had gone through a lot, far more than any child should have."

"Really?" Konoha asked sceptically. What could he possibly have gone through? Certainly not what she had, and she didn't use her bad childhood as an excuse.

"Really. I think that you and Naruto might be the best thing for him right now, even if he thinks the opposite. You just have to try to find some common ground with him."

The Hokage looked at her convincingly and Konoha knew there wasn't much room for argument. Not that she felt like arguing against him anyway; yes, Sasuke had been a jerk to them but he was a member of their squad and would remain so, and according to the old man hadn't had an easy upbringing. If there was one thing Konoha didn't do, that was give up on people. At the very least, she would make sure he at least accepted her and Naruto as his fellow teammates.

"Okay," she told him, and The Hokage seemed satisfied.

"Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

That's right, attempting to analyze the mind of Uchiha Sasuke had made her completely forget the whole reason she was there in the first place. She chewed on her lip and tried to think of a way to ask him what she wanted to.

"How...how's the, um, pin?" she finished lamely. How's the pin? Konoha, you moron.

The old man's eyes crinkled sympathetically as his lips curled slightly upwards. "The pin is fine, Konoha. It's safe."

She nodded in response, not knowing what else to say. Truth was, she missed it. Not for its abilities or anything of that sort, but because it had been the only real constant in her life, something she had never been without, not for as long as she could remember. During her time in the orphanage she had kept it under a floorboard, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the children there, and only when sneaking in after her late night training-sessions had she carefully brought it out to look at it. It had served as a reminder of what she was working so hard for.

"Have you had any luck in finding out anything about my parents?" she continued hopefully. A long shot, since she figured he probably would've let her know if he had, but she asked anyway.

"None so far." He looked at her meaningly. "Don't worry, we will get to the bottom of it, I promise you."

"Yeah," Konoha replied, not quite as convinced. "Well, I better get going, they're waiting for me. Thank you again, Hokage-sama, and for giving us the mission, too," she added as he walked her to the door.

"Of course. I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think you would be able to handle it." As they reached the door, he told her, "You know, Kakashi told me about the Bell-test. Your strategy was excellent, Konoha."

"How did you…" she began confused, not at all understanding how the old man could have known since they hadn't even told Kakashi it had been her idea. The only response she got however, was a knowing smile.

"Good luck," he finally said, and Konoha wasn't sure if he was referring to tomorrow's mission, her parents, or Sasuke.

Exiting the building, she caught sight of her team waiting for her on the other end of the grounds.

"Is everything alright?" Kakashi asked her when she finally reached them.

"Yes, everything is fine, thank you," Konoha replied. She nodded at the square papers Kakashi was holding. "What's that?"

"We were waiting for you to arrive before we started." He pulled out one paper from the stack in his left hand and placed it between the index and middle finger of his right one, lifting it up for a better view. "This here, is a chakra paper. Can anybody tell me what it does?"

"It tells you which nature element the chakra user has an affinity to," Sasuke answered.

"That's right, well done," Kakashi praised. "So, there are five natural elements in total. You have fire, wind, lightning, earth and water. Each user has one type that their chakra will correlate to the most, making it easier for them to learn jutsus within that element. Ninjas use this to their advantage, as it lets them learn higher-level element jutsus while they're still Genin, for instance."

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Okay, so how does it work?"

"Simple," the Jōnin said. "You just focus your basic chakra into the paper and then observe the result. If your type is fire, the paper burns up. Water, it gets wet, and wind makes it cut into half. Earth turns it into dirt and lightning…." The previously smooth paper he was holding up instantly scrunched up, "...makes it crinkle."

Konoha and Naruto watched in fascination as Kakashi handed them each a paper. "Alright, now it's your turn," he said.

Konoha observed as Naruto's expression painfully focused on the tiny piece of paper, until it suddenly slashed into two.

"Wind," Kakashi stated. "It's a good one to have. It's strong against lightning, but then its weakness is fire."

Naruto nodded. A sudden sizzling sound made all three of them look over at Sasuke, whose paper was currently being devoured by a flame.

"Not surprising that it's fire, since it tends to be an Uchiha trait," their mentor commented. Naruto frowned at that, most likely due to Kakashi previously saying how it was his element's weakness. "It's weak against water, however," he added.

Looking down at her own paper, Konoha was fairly sure she knew what hers would be. Kuno had given her basic training in all five elements, and pointed out several times that discriminating jutsu-types was one of the biggest mistakes a ninja could make. He also hadn't let her take advantage of the Founder pin's fire-jutsu enhancement, so that she instead learned how to rely on her own chakra pool entirely. Thanks to that, it had been easy to see which element she had advanced in the fastest.

She tightened her core, focusing on the rummaging power in the middle of it as it extended through her arm and into the paper. Konoha watched as it first turned a transcendent blue color, followed by a bright orange flame. Yes.

"Well, looks like we have two fire-types on the team," Kakashi said as the last remaining bit of paper burned out, leaving only ashes in the girl's palm. She sprinkled the dust off her hands as her eyes met Sasuke's staring ones. Smirking, she realized the opportunity for common ground had presented itself, and much, much sooner than she would have expected.

* * *

Sasuke watched the burning piece of paper in his hand. Fire. He had expected as much.

"Not surprising that it's fire, since it tends to be an Uchiha trait," came Kakashi's comment, and Sasuke felt like laughing. An Uchiha trait? Now there was a euphemism. Affinity to fire was more of an Uchiha birthright; the clan symbol even being an uchiwa.*

"It's weak against water, however."

The dark-haired boy turned his head to look at the only female member of their squad, who was avidly concentrating on her paper. Briefly, he wondered what her affinity would be. Water, he figured, as it was the exact opposite of him - that would fit her. She was nothing like him.

Her arrival at the Academy had been nothing short of perplexing, if only for the fact of being five days before graduation. He figured she must have bribed The Hokage into it, as the written part of the exam called for a knowledge of Konoha's history, while she must have learned Kumogakure's at the Academy Sasuke known that was all it took he would have demanded to be able to partake in last years exit examination and graduate a year ahead, himself.

Though her skills as a kunoichi weren't a particularly impressive feat from what he had seen, she was rather intelligent, he had to give her that. At least more than Naruto, although that idiot didn't really set the bar high. She had surprised him during the Bell-test when she had suggested they team up and use Naruto's one-dimensional attacking strategies as a decoy, but even more so when she had called him out on his bullshitting. However, not even that erased the fact that he found her brazen attitude quite annoying and preferred her and Naruto, the chums that they were, as far away from him as possible. Though he supposed he should count himself lucky she wasn't infatuated with him.

The paper in Konoha's hand then burst into flame, and Sasuke's expression turned confused. What?

"Well, looks like we have two fire-types on the team," his teacher mused. Sasuke watched as the girl looked at the flame engulfing the rest of the paper, and after dusting off the remnants of it met his eyes, and smiled smugly. She took a few steps closer to him.

"So, an Uchiha thing, huh?" she said satisfyingly, her azure eyes boring into him.

"What of it?"

"What do you say about a little sparring match? We'll make it fire-jutsu only. A fighting fire with fire-kind of thing," she propositioned. She had stepped closer to him now.

Sasuke wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but it didn't matter. "I'll pass," he answered dryly.

Kakashi looked on intrigued as Konoha got even closer to the boy, while he took one hand and clasped it over Naruto's mouth to keep him from interrupting, which he desperately looked like he wanted.

"Why not?" she inquired, grin still present on her face. "Scared you'll get beaten by a girl or something?"

She was baiting him with clichés, Sasuke knew, and he wasn't stupid enough to fall for it. "No," he told simply her as he turned and started walking towards the water fountain in an effort to get away from the persistent white-haired girl.

Why was she so adamant on sparring with him? Maybe she really did have an idiotic crush on him like the rest of them. In any case, sparring with her would only result in him having to go easy on her and he saw no point in that; if anything, who he really wanted to spar with was Kakashi - using his Sharingan he could definitely pick up a thing or two from the Jōnin. Now that would be beneficial.

Konoha had now turned quiet, apparently having finally given up on pestering him. He relaxed his shoulders slightly. What he needed right now was some nice, cold, wate-

"Katon, Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" came a strong shout from behind him.

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief at the familiar words as he whipped his head around just in time to see a blinding ball of light coming his way. Quickly jumping out of the furious jutsu's way, he landed smoothly on the grass as the fireball disintegrated several metres behind him. He looked up at her incredulously. How the fuck...

"How do you know that technique?" he demanded to know as he stood up. The Gōkakyū no Jutsu was an Uchiha clan invention, and had been one of the most relied upon for generations. Although it had gone mainstream and was ubiquitous amongst ninjas at this point, it was way beyond the level of any Genin.

"Spar with me, and if you manage to beat me, I'll tell you."

Sasuke studied his female teammate for a few seconds before a lopsided smirk made its way onto his features. So the stupid girl wanted to fight him? "Fire-jutsu attacks only, right?"

She nodded, obviously pleased at his admission. "That's right."

The Uchiha wasted no time as he immediately started signing. "Katon: Endan no Jutsu!" He inhaled deeply, focusing on the heated pool of chakra in his stomach that started travelling up, engulfing his lungs before continuing further up the throat. Sasuke jumped up in the air, and through a ring consisting of his index and thumb finger, forcefully blew out a breath of fire at the girl below him. As it settled, he noticed that Konoha had disappeared, instead being replaced by a stock of wood. His eyes drifted across the perimeter, checking every corner, until he suddenly noticed her presence.

Quickly turning around, he was just fast enough to block a punch aimed at his head, and jumped backwards away from her. Konoha's hands were covered in a bright flame; the jutsu responsible being Kami no Kobushi.* He smirked. Maybe he had underestimated her capabilities as a kunoichi after all.

Konoha charged at him, firing punches at him that he swiftly avoided. He didn't attack her back as she went on, instead just dodging and blocking. Sasuke could see the frustration growing on her face.

"Fight me, goddamnit Sasuke," she growled at him.

He said nothing, instead just continuing on dancing around her attacks. That seemed to infuriate her even further, as she pulled back.

"Why are you holding back?! You agreed to the sparring, now be a man and fight me!" she yelled, aggressively attacking him and forcing him to move even faster.

Sasuke then finally decided he had humoured her enough. She was good, no doubt, but not good enough to take him. He decided he would end the match the same way she had started it. As he began signing, an idea suddenly struck him. He jumped behind her, quickly, landing on the ground away from her.

"Konoha," he said, and as she turned around to face him, duplicated his form by five to come full circle around her.

Konoha stood still, carefully studying each of the clones that had surrounded her to determine which the real one was. As all five of him started signing, he saw her eyes widen in panic. While shadow clones don't possess a chakra-reserve and are unable to perform ninjutsu, mimicking the actions would prevent the opponent from knowing which one was the real him until the very last moment - just like now. Sasuke, who was standing to her side, quickly shoved his hand down his pocket while his clones mimicked the motion, and grabbed ahold of the tiny object there, focusing on combining his own chakra with it.

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" They all shouted as he exhaled, firing large flame bullets up at the sky above the girl. Konoha looked up and froze in spot at the shock of the enormous size of the blinding flames covering her whole line of vision of the sky. As they came to a halt in the air, they quickly shot down towards the ground instead, hitting the earth and effectively trapping the girl in a ring of high fire within seconds.

Konoha fell down, shielding her face from the licking flames that were growing closer and larger. Sasuke then snapped his fingers and the fire immediately degenerated, leaving nothing but smoke in its wake.

He slowly walked towards the girl until he stood infront of her, and crouched down to meet her shocked face.

"Now," he said, staring at her intently. "Where did you learn that jutsu?"

"I-I...saw a shinobi use it once, when I was ten," she stuttered out. "And then I tried to copy him."

"You copied him?" Sasuke repeated surprised. "You learned it by watching him do it once when you were ten?"

"It took me a couple of months, but then I finally managed to do it," she told him as her voice finally grew steady.

Sasuke stared at the girl. Even a lot of Chūnins had difficulties performing the jutsu, but she had learned to do a C-rank fire release at the age of ten, and by only watching it once at that. Although he himself had learned it as an eight year old, it was undoubtedly an impressive accomplishment. She might have looked weak at first glance, but she definitely wasn't an ordinary kunoichi.

"How…"

He broke out of his thoughts, once again redirecting his attention to her. "Hn?"

"How did you do that just now? I've never...never seen someone blow out that much fire at once before," she said, astounded.

Sasuke felt his lips tug upwards. He didn't know why, but he highly enjoyed rendering her speechless like this. She was usually so quick to dish out sassy comments and make jokes at his expense otherwise.

"You're ten years too early to fight me," he answered her, smirking. When she frowned, he leaned in past her face, his lips nearly grazing her ear as he whispered to her, "But, in ten years, if you manage to beat me, then I'll tell you how I did that."

He watched as her eyes widened once more at her own words being used back at her, and her cheeks grew slightly pink. Konoha didn't have a chance to respond to him however, as Kakashi and Naruto approached them.

"Well, that certainly was a highly entertaining sparring match, I have to say," Kakashi said as he finally reached the two of them. "I definitely take back calling you idiots before."

"Konoha-chan, you were really good," Naruto patted her back supportively. "I'm sorry, I wanted to cheer you on but stupid Kakashi-sensei wouldn't let me. He said my loud voice would throw you off your game." He threw a nasty look at their teacher.

Konoha laughed at that. "Thanks Naruto, I appreciate it. But I think I would've gotten my ass handed to me either way." She then turned back to Sasuke and met his eyes squarely. "You're good," she acknowledged. "Really good. But make no mistake, I will catch up to you, Sasuke. And it won't take me ten years, so you better be prepared for the day when it happens."

"Hn." He watched her blue eyes shine with newfound determination, and surprisingly found that he didn't really mind her resolve. His left hand in his pocket again, he stroked the round metal pin there with the pad of his thumb.

He hadn't actually needed it at all to beat her, but the powerful effect it gave had been exactly the prop needed to inspire her priceless face. Besides, it _was_ a family heirloom and meant to be used, though he preferred not to unless the situation truly called for it. Not that Konoha would ever be able to guess that he had used The Founder's pin.

"Sasuke-bastard, what the hell was that thing? Those fire-balls were huge!" Naruto said while gesturing with his hands for emphasis. "How'd you do it? Can you teach me?"

The Uchiha huffed at him and turned around. "Like I'd ever tell you, dobe."

* * *

**Uchiwa = traditional japanese fan, often used to fan flames to make a fire hotter**

**Kami no kobushi = Fist of God**

**Author's Note: You guys, you are seriously the best. Your reviews were amazing, and I am so glad you seem to like the story so much! You definitely inspire me to sit down and continue writing even when I feel like procrastinating instead (it's my special talent.) Not quite sure how to feel about how this chapter came out, but whatever. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!**

**Azuna: Thank you so much for your constructiveness and detailed reviews, you're awesome! To answer your question: yes, Konoha's hair is white (though not grey like Kakashi's) and there are as you mentioned several characters in the Naruto universe who share that, so I figured it was common enough not to be considered odd. The inspiration for her hair and eyes was actually Koko Hekmatyar from Jormungand; really thought the combination of the two colors was striking. Oh wow, a funny thing that occured to me just now is that there's a parallel between the Sannin's haircolors and the team 7 in this story (one white-haired, one blonde and one dark-haired). Total coincidence, but pretty cool!**


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